Staff

Fabian joined the lab in early 2016 as both Lab Manager and Research Technician. He was tasked with creating several hundred constructs of ASD Gene Variants in a variety of expression clones for UBC's ASD collaboration, as well as various cloning projects for the Haas Lab. He is designing and performing all of the flow cytometry-based high-throughput screening for various functional and biochemical features of ASD-associated gene variants. As Lab Manager, he is also in charge of everything related to lab safety and new Haas Lab member orientations, as well as teaching new Undergraduates joining the lab to learn molecular biology techniques.

WC Sin did her postdoctoral training at the Institute of Molecular & Cell Biology in Singapore and at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. She spent a few years in a New York biotechnology company that specializes in cancer gene discovery before continuing her research at UBC, focusing on the role of inflammation in brain cancer development. She is involved in the functional characterization of autism associated gene variants in the lab since October 2017.

Kathryn investigates Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) associated genes and gene variants. Specifically she is interested in the effect of ASD-associated variants on dendritogenesis in young, developing neurons. Using two-photon microscopy she investigates the development of phase 2 and 3 optic tectal neurons expressing ASD-gene variants. She is also interested in functionally characterizing all identified gene variants using genetic interactions determined through Synthetic Dosage Lethality (SDL) screens in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Peter uses Xenopus laevis tadpoles to study early neuronal development, dendritic arborization, and synaptogenesis. His experimental work makes use of in vivo two-photon imaging to collect structural data of single neurons during development, as well as population calcium dynamics. Peter has an interest in the application of bioimage analysis and machine learning to investigate neuronal development.

Sina works on two major projects. The first project is to study the effects of Early-Life Seizures (ELSs) on the developing brain, which largely involves immunohistochemistry, 2-photon and confocal imaging, and associated analysis. The second project is a high-throughput study of the effects of genetic mutations associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) on protein structure and function. This project involves the growth, maintenance, and genetic manipulation of large-scale cell culture assays.